SCOTTSDALE, AZ. - FEBRUARY 23: Troy Tulowitzki (2) of the Colorado Rockies in his first game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the February 23, 2013 in Scottsdale. This is his first game since May 30th. (Photo By John Leyba/The Denver Post)

Heavy metal and Gordon Lightfoot. Shakespeare and reality TV. It’s difficult to find a more striking difference than the Rockies’ offensive performance at home and on the road last season. Colorado scored 486 runs at home, 39 more than the second-place Rangers. The Rockies scored 272 runs in visiting parks, tying the Astros for dead last.

It’s like having Beyoncé’s face and Roseanne Barr’s voice.

How can a team with the same players live such contrasting lives? And more important: How can the Rockies, who will lean heavily on their Blake Street Bullies offense to rebound from a 98-loss season, improve their home-road splits this season?

“Stop reading the newspaper,” veteran Michael Cuddyer said with a laugh. “Our game has to be the same. It shouldn’t change when we go on the road. It’s still baseball. It shouldn’t be that different.”

It shouldn’t be, but it has been. The Rockies mashed in LoDo last season, reaching base at a league-best .367 clip. They hit 100 home runs at Coors Field, even without Troy Tulowitzki and Michael Cuddyer for a combined six months and Carlos Gonzalez in a major second-half slump.

And yet, they posted their second consecutive losing record at home, something they had never done, because their pitchers couldn’t get anyone out, posting a humidor-ERA worst 5.97 ERA.

On the road, where the Rockies are 324 games under .500 through their first 20 seasons, the offense managed just 66 home runs and a .291 on-base percentage, ranking 28th in baseball.

Rather than talk geography and location this spring, first-year manager Walt Weiss and hitting coach Dante Bichette have preached “absolutes,” believing better fundamentals will help bring balance to an offense that should rank as one of the National League’s most dangerous, if it can stay healthy.

“It’s about keeping guys on the field and playing. I am not thinking about home and road. I am really not,” Bichette said. “We just have to keep a consistent approach.”

Weiss has shades of John Wooden in his philosophy: “Be quick, but don’t hurry” was one of Wooden’s axioms. Bichette has told the players to be aggressive on the bases, but smart. Eric Young Jr. and Dexter Fowler have been given the green light to run and put pressure on the defense.

“That’s part of how you can bully teams offensively. Go first to third every chance you get. Score from second on base hits,” Cuddyer said. “Make the other team react to us.”

Dominance at home is central to the Rockies’ hopes. Weiss wants to exploit Coors Field, not make excuses for playing at altitude.

“And we have the lineup to do that,” Weiss said.

The Rockies can stack up one through eight with most teams, at least in the National League. Colorado could hit 200 home runs for the first time since 2004. It’s worth noting that the Rockies averaged 181 during their most recent playoff seasons in 2007 and 2009.

“There are not many teams where you can can look and see numerous guys that can hit 30 home runs and have a high average as well,” Tulowitzki said.

Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez have both reached 30 in a season. Catcher Wilin Rosario had 28 as a rookie a season ago, and 20 is definitely a possibility for Michael Cuddyer and Tyler Colvin, who isn’t even a starter.

“We have the kind of lineup that should have confidence, that should have swag,” Gonzalez said. “We know we have to get better on the road. And that starts with me. But we should be really good.”

At home, it’s practically a given the Rockies will bash. However, that’s not why Bichette replaced Carney Lansford as the hitting coach. The team’s ineptitude on the road prompted change. The misconception is that the Rockies were really good in visiting parks when they reached the playoffs. They hit .261 on the road in 2007 and .235 in 2009. The difference is that they scored 382 and 340 runs, respectively.

That goes back to the staples: moving runners over, executing a two-strike approach, getting runners home from third with fewer than two outs and taking extra bases.

“We have to play more small ball on the road and understand how important one run can be early. And obviously we have to dominant at home,” Tulowitzki said. “When you look back on our most successful teams, we had guys one through eight who could really work an at-bat. There’s been an emphasis on those points. It’s important that we hold each other accountable.”

Troy is a former Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies beat writer for The Denver Post. He joined the news organization in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role ahead of the 2015 season. He left The Post in 2015.

More in Sports

You think Colorado's problems are bad through the first quarter of the season? Just be happy the Rockies aren't totally emulating the Diamondbacks, the major league's coldest club that has lost 13 of its last 14 games.